


Penny Candy: Or the One Time Stannis Baratheon Bent

by CommaSplice



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Gen, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-22
Updated: 2014-03-22
Packaged: 2018-01-16 14:55:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1351561
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CommaSplice/pseuds/CommaSplice
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Devan surveyed the array of candy in front of him. It would have been easier to just go to the convenience store, but it wasn’t Snickers bars or peanut butter cups or even Junior Mints that Shireen really wanted.  </p><p>She wanted proper candy, the homemade kind. She talked about candy a lot these days. “Do you remember when we went to the ice cream parlor with your father?”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Penny Candy: Or the One Time Stannis Baratheon Bent

**Author's Note:**

  * For [crossingwinter](https://archiveofourown.org/users/crossingwinter/gifts).



> From the Tumblr prompt: can i get a devan/shireen in which devan sneaks shireen lollipops because lord knows stannis doesn't let her have sugar? (of either type eyyyyy *sunglasses fall over my eyes out of nowhere*) (wow i've been in a pun mood lately)

Devan surveyed the array of candy in front of him. It would have been easier to just go to the convenience store, but it wasn’t Snickers bars or peanut butter cups or even Junior Mints that Shireen really wanted. 

She wanted proper candy, the homemade kind. She talked about candy a lot these days. “Do you remember when we went to the ice cream parlor with your father?” she would him ask at least once a week. 

Devan remembered. Dad had been driving the two of them home from school one afternoon and had stopped there on a whim. 

It was old-looking inside, but kind of pretty. There were pale green walls and a green and white checked marble floor. Alcoves with dark wooden booths interspersed with candy counters ring the circular-shaped room. In the center were more displays of candy and tables and chairs. And on the left when you came in was a soda fountain like something out of the old movies his mother loved to watch. Shireen whirled around trying to take it all in. “Look at the ceiling,” she breathed to Devan. 

Devan looked. 

“They don’t do plasterwork like that anymore,” Dad told them. 

Shireen admired all the curlicues and whirls. “It’s pink and white like a cake!”

Dad smiled. He somehow persuaded Shireen to stop twirling around and they were seated by a plump waitress who had a smile that ended in dimples on both ends. They would have ice-cream sundaes, he said. 

Devan got one with caramel sauce. 

Shireen hesitated. “I don’t like vanilla ice cream,” she said worriedly.

“You can have any kind of ice cream,” the waitress assured her. 

“Strawberry and hot fudge.” Shireen took a deep breath. “Could I have two cherries, please?”

“Sure.”

Shireen’s eyes widened and Devan knew she was shocked and pleased all at the same time. 

The sundaes were really good. They weren’t like the kind you could get at Dairy Queen. These came in a fancy glass on paper doilies with a special long-handled spoon. Devan wolfed his down, but Shireen took her time. 

“I want to make it last,” she said. The waitress had brought not just two maraschino cherries, but a whole dish of them.

Afterward, Dad said they could look around. All the candies were made in-house, the waitress had informed them.

“I have my allowance,” Shireen told Dad. “May I buy something?”

“Would your father mind?”

Devan noticed Shireen got that funny look on her face she did when she wasn’t being entirely honest, but he didn’t say anything; he wasn’t a tattle tale.

Having received permission from his father, Shireen bought a bunch of stuff. She generously shared them with Devan as they sat in the backseat on the way back. They devoured licorice whips, jellied fruits, peppermint pigs, and chocolates. Then with their hands and both of their lips crusty with sugar, they sucked on homemade lollipops. 

It was a great afternoon, spoiled only by the reactions of Devan’s mother and Shireen’s father. There had been a big to-do about too much sugar. Mum was more annoyed that Dad had just dropped him off before going on to a meeting, leaving her to deal with Devan’s sugar high and subsequent crash, but Dad said he was sorry, and then with his arms around Mum’s waist, he gave her a hangdog look, and it was okay after that. 

Shireen’s father was not quite so forgiving. Mr. Baratheon didn’t really blame Dad. Shireen had been dishonest and she would need to be punished for it. Mrs. Baratheon did blame Dad, but then she didn’t like him. Shireen suffered the grounding without complaint. The thing that made her sad was the ban on candy. Sugar was bad for her, both her parents proclaimed. It wasn’t healthy. It led to cavities and there was a disturbing link to childhood obesity and something called Type 2 Diabetes.

“A strong wind would blow the lass over,” Dad had said to Mum in exasperation. 

“She’s their daughter, not ours.”

Shireen did as her parents told her, but Devan could tell it was hard on her. She kept on talking about the ice cream parlor. Her name day was in four months. Did he think her parents might let her go there for a treat? What about cake? Did he think they would let her have a piece of cake? She was so sick of fruit. Even Uncle Renly was going along with what her parents dictated. She’d spent the day with him and he’d given her peaches for desserts—peaches! Did Devan remember the ice cream parlor? Weren’t the candies the best things they had ever had?

Devan didn’t like seeing Shireen so unhappy. 

So now here he was again in the ice cream parlor with his brother. Maric had just gotten his driver’s license and he jumped at any opportunity to take the car he’d bought for $350 any place he could. 

“Make your mind up, Devan,” Maric ordered.

“I want to get her something she’ll love.” Devan hesitated over the items in the cases. He hadn’t liked the jellied fruit. Once you got past the point that it looked like an orange slice, it was kind of gross, but Shireen had liked the yellow and red ones. Not as much as she’d liked the peppermint pigs or the licorice whips. And then his eye fell on the lollipops. They would be easy to get home and he could buy a bunch of them for what it would cost to buy her chocolates or the peppermint pigs.

It wasn’t hard to sneak them up to her in her room. 

Shireen’s dark blue eyes lit up when she saw the lollipops. And then her whole face fell. “Daddy and Mummy said I couldn’t buy candy anymore.”

Devan was stymied for a moment. “But you didn’t buy these,” he countered. “I did.”

Shireen hesitated. She held one of the lollipops in her head, her fingers twitched, and she started to remove the clear plastic wrapping.

“What is the meaning of this?”

Devan jumped at the sound of Mr. Baratheon’s stern voice. 

There were questions and mumbled answers. Devan threw himself upon the proverbial sword and took the blame. Then Shireen tried to use Devan’s argument. If Devan had brought the lollipops to her, it wasn’t the same as her buying them.

“Sophistry,” Mr. Baratheon scoffed. 

Both Devan and Shireen looked blank.

“I’m sorry, Daddy. I just . . . it was so good. I didn’t think one would be so bad.” 

Mr. Baratheon was unmoved. He was very disappointed in Shireen, he said. 

And then a big, fat tear started to roll down Shireen’s cheek. 

Both Devan and Mr. Baratheon were alarmed. 

Shireen’s face flushed and she started crying in earnest. She was sorry, she told her father between tears. She was really sorry. She hadn’t meant to be bad. It was just so pretty, the way the colors swirled and it tasted so good. Shireen talked about the ice cream parlor. It had been so much fun. She had liked sitting in the booth with Mr. Seaworth and Devan, and looking at the ceiling that reminded her of a fancy cake, just like the one they had for Uncle Robert and Aunt Cersei’s wedding anniversary before Uncle Robert had gotten clumsy and fallen against it. And the waitress had been so nice letting her have strawberry ice cream instead of vanilla in the fancy glass with the lacy doily and the extra cherries, but she was so sorry.

Devan wanted Shireen to stop crying, but he didn’t know how to accomplish this. 

Mr. Baratheon didn’t seem to know how either. Shireen flung herself into his arms and he patted her back awkwardly. He forgave her, he said finally. After all she hadn’t actually had the lollipop, and both her mother and he were happy she was such a good girl. He fished out a clean linen handkerchief and helped her blow her nose. 

Shireen looked at the lollipop a little wistfully, but she handed it back to Devan.

Dad always said that Mr. Baratheon was a man of principle and that he never bent, not ever. 

And then Mr. Baratheon took a deep breath. “Mr. Seaworth is a great believer in moderation in all things,” he told them. He held out the lollipop to Shireen.

**Author's Note:**

> The ice cream parlor is based on a real place in my home town. I changed up one or two things, but going here with my father when I was about Shireen and Devan's age is one of my favorite memories from childhood. 


End file.
